Juliet and Juliet?

Chapter 5

Elliot parked the police issue Ford Taurus as close to the DA's building as possible. He had called Olivia's cellphone at least a dozen times since leaving the precinct, straight to voice mail. He left a message every time. He switched off the flashing light on the dashboard, shut off the engine and popped the lever for the trunk. He threw the car door open and shut it with a ferocity born out of urgency. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it in the trunk and reached for his Kevlar vest. He slammed the trunk heavily as he finished fastening the velcro straps across his front. He made a quick inventory of his pockets, adjusted the gun on his left hip and took off running across the street.

He slowed to a jog as he approached the plaza in front of the DA's building and surveyed the scene before him.

A single fire truck sat on the street directly outside the building's main entrance. Cragen had said there was, 'no obvious sign of a fire or hazard,' but even in a false alarm Elliot knew State guidelines required a unit to respond.

Elliot parked the police issue Ford Taurus as close to the DA's building as possible. He had called Olivia's cellphone at least a dozen times since leaving the precinct, straight to voice mail. He left a message every time. He switched off the flashing light on the dashboard, shut off the engine and popped the lever for the trunk. He threw the car door open and shut it with a ferocity born out of urgency. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it in the trunk and reached for his Kevlar vest. He slammed the trunk heavily as he finished fastening the velcro straps across his front. He made a quick inventory of his pockets, adjusted the gun on his left hip and took off running across the street.

He slowed to a jog as he approached the plaza in front of the DA's building and surveyed the scene before him.

A single fire truck sat on the street directly outside the building's main entrance. Cragen had said there was, 'no obvious sign of a fire or hazard,' but even in a false alarm Elliot knew State guidelines required a unit to respond.

Six abandoned patrol cars, lights flashing, sirens off, were strewn across the road, effectively blocking all access. The vehicle's occupants were busy enforcing the police barricade. The underground parking entrance was blocked by another two patrol cars. Two members of the Tact Squad, in full operational gear, complete with assault weapon's, were guarding the entrance.

'Lock down,' thought Elliot. He heard a whooping noise and looked up. He leaned back and shielded his eyes from the mid day sun to look at the ESU aerial surveillance helicopter. He blinked rapidly against the glare of the sun,'Is it only 1 o'clock.' he thought, 'feels a lot later.' He sighed wearily.

The occupants of the building were standing in neat rows on the plaza about fifty feet from the building. Elliot assumed this was the evacuation assembly zone. He spotted the white helmet of the Fire Chief at the front of the crowd, he was talking with DA Jack McCoy and an unidentifiable figure dressed in black fatigues with the letters E.S.U embossed in yellow on his back.

Elliot spotted the Emergency Services Unit's mobile command post and raced towards it. The door was open and he climbed the two metal steps. Inside, the unit was tight on space but highly functional. There were four ESU agents inside, all busy speaking on phones. Elliot looked at the long wall on his left to a bank of monitors, all were blank except for two which displayed the lobby of the DA's building from different angles.

He waited for someone to finish speaking. He was busy looking at the images from the lobby of the DA's building when a commanding voice spoke behind him, "You Stabler?"

Elliot turned and recognized the man as the figure he had seem talking with McCoy and the Fire Chief. He held out his hand in greeting, "Yes Sir. Elliot Stabler of the 1-6, I'm here to help." It was a statement, not a question and it was definitely not up for discussion as far as Elliot Stabler was concerned.

The ESU leader shook his hand firmly, "Lieutenant Tom Goldie," he motioned for Elliot to move to the back of the unit where surfaces were covered with schematics of the building. "Captain Cragen already informed me you were on your way down here. We're running this op Stabler, you do as I say," he saw Elliot about to speak and cut him off, "I know how you feel, you wanna go in there and get them out, so do I but we can't risk a bloodbath when we don't know what we're up against." He looked squarely at Elliot, noticing the clenching jaw.

Elliot knew he was right. The cop inside him knew he was right. The ex marine inside knew he was right but the husband, the father, the protector inside him just wanted to charge in there and get them out, consequences be damned. He nodded his head at Goldie, "What do we know, what's going on in there?"

Lieutenant Tom Goldie was a big man, big and broad with cropped black hair. He held respect from both colleagues and peers and knew how to read people. He gave Stabler the once over, he'd already spoken to his partner on the portable radio a few times today and wondered briefly if there wasn't something going on between them. He'd been in situations like this too many times before and could sense the personal need for Stabler to be here as well as the professional.

He motioned to the monitor's on the wall, the two live feeds displayed a deserted lobby with two elevators visible. One door was closed and the other was open. Next to the elevators was a closed fire door.

Goldie tapped one screen with his finger, "Phone lines are down, security system is offline. We've only got live feed from the lobby, separate server. There are cameras on all 12 floors including the underground parking. No cameras in the elevator's though, we're trying to get the servers back online. Benson reported an elevator moving up, she's switched to exit 4. The car has stopped at '7' and hasn't moved. We can't call it either, doors must be jammed open. A four man team was deployed to intercept via the stairwell. Approximately 5 minutes ago we lost contact." He finished his debrief and indicated for Stabler to follow him outside.

Stabler grabbed his arm, "What do you mean you lost contact? You guys use two way ear radio pieces." Stabler knew how essential the ear communication devices were in operations like these. He and Olivia had used them many times when it was essential to know what was happening when visual was limited and normal channels of communication were restricted.

Goldie pulled his arm away and started walking. Elliot followed closely behind him. Goldie stopped after a few yards and looked at Elliot, "We only lost contact with that team," he let Elliot absorb the gravity of the statement before continuing, "The channel's open but nobody's responding."

Stabler's eyes widened, "So? Why haven't you sent in another team, maybe the stairwell is blocking the frequency, maybe they're on the wrong channel, maybe the equipment malfunctioned." Eliot was clutching at straws, these were state of the art radio transmitters. The ESU agents,relied on them for their survival and would check all equipment prior to deployment. Something was wrong.

Goldie ran a large hand over his strong, square jaw as he spoke, "We can't just storm the building Stabler, we don't know where your partner and Cabot are. Their last know position was on the 9th floor, heading down the stairwell. Benson's turned her radio off, that's all we know. The Tact Team's last communication was received from the 6th floor, " he paused, "Whoever's in there," he pointed at the building behind him, "Trust me, they ain't getting out."

Elliot absorbed everything, painting a mental picture of the interior of the building. He'd been to various offices over the years but he'd never used the stairs, never taken any notice of anything other than the office he was visiting and the elevators. He turned his thoughts to Olivia. He knew the way his partner worked, knew how she processed details and he trusted her instincts, God knows they had saved his ass in countless situations.

The whooping of the chopper snapped him out of his reverie, "She's going up," he drew Goldie's attention to the chopper overhead. " The elevator's are out of use, the stairwell below her might be compromised," he paused and looked directly at Goldie, "She's heading for the roof."